The Boy who lived before

[stevie1time]

Did anyone watch this programme about a young toddler who had recurring thoughts and visions of a past life? It was investigated and virtually all but one was proved to be genuine. I myself up until watching this programme have been very unconvinced in reincarnation,my parents are religous and believe,i am starting to have doubts. I mean i am 34 and not going to change my lifetime views on the subject because of a t.v programme,but other un explained events make me think,any views on the subject out there????

[luna-tic]

Hello stevie, Due to my lack of interest with T.V. recently, I decided to have the aerial removed but I do recall watching a program last year about a young boy who kept talking to his parents and friends about living in a place unknown to his parents and having other family members aside from his current ones. If it's the same prog' then, yes I found this very interesting and thought how confusing it must of been for all involved.
Despite anyone's beliefs, religious or not. The facts still remain. Was it the soul or memory of another child that had returned through this boy?
It poses such questions as why would an indian boy living in a very poor community know how to play intricate classical pieces on a piano once put in front of the instrument having never seen a piano before?
Is there the odd occasion when the soul from another isn't wiped clean so the persona and individual memories of a past life are imprinted on a new born?
Interesting question.

[naomi24]

Hi Steve, no I didn't see it either, but,like Luna, I find the subject interesting. There do seem to be a lot of cases like this. Reincarnation is such an ancient concept - far older than Christianity or Islam - and the eastern religions seem to be more spiritual somehow than the western religions. I wonder?

[jake-the-peg]

This one?

http://www.theskepticexpress.com/the_boy_who_l ived_before.php

[stevie1time]

Yes Jake,thats the one,i remember watching it and having the hairs on the back of my neck stand up at some points..I recall one the 'specialists' saying that all humans have these recollections and dreams etc,but they are gone from our minds by the time we reach 5ish,i mean,ive only got vague memories of before this age,so i wonder if he knows what he's on about??What you think,Luna,Naomi,Jake

[naomi24]

Stevie, now I've read Jake's link, I realise I saw it the last time it was on. I remember thinking it very odd when I watched it. It certainly contained incidents that no one seemed able to explain, and the little boy seemed quite sure that what he was saying with the truth.

I find the cases where children suddenly start speaking a foreign language fascinating. There was one not so long ago of a four year old Indian boy who did it. I don't know if it was the same child that Luna's talking about because I can't really remember the details, but I know he asked to be taken to an area he'd never been to, and where this language he'd begun to speak was spoken, and he recognised what he said was his home, and spoke about his previous family, who still lived there.

I'm not sure these children do realise what they're talking about. If this really does occur, it probably seems quite normal to them.

[luna-tic]

I've often heard the phrase, impressionable age. As a child, the memory is like a sponge, constantly taking in new information but without the events similar to what happened to the boy in the programme, a child would normally only remember things from a little time before the memory is placed.
Naomi, the Indian kid I was referring to was in a book of unexplained facts but I do remember the child you spoke of.
Very strange but fascinating.
As I get older my brain is still sponge-like but it gets rinsed out quite often leaving only some snippets of things that would be called useful.
Never mind :0)

[jake-the-peg]

It's easy to make a TV program that appears pretty convincing if you're only presenting one side and you're not trying to present a balanced case for and against.

I certainly don't see anything too compelling from what I read about it.

You have to be very carefull with some of this stuff - a number of people have been 'regressed' to a past life under hypnosis. Unfortunately in that state if pressured to remember things that they cannot some people will invent things under hypnosis and then truely believe them when they come round.

I note that the "child psycologist" Jim Tucker on the program has a habit of publishing in rather "Ghostbustery" journals like "The Journal of Near-Death Studies" and "the International Journal of Parapsychology" so I'd not exactly call him impartial.

Especially as he has a book and website devoted to this sort of thing http://www.lifebeforelife.com/

I think I'll take it with a rather large pich of salt.

[naomi24]

Luna: If it didn't happen to children, I'd be more sceptical than I am. Children are so innocent, unworldly and inexperienced, I have to wonder where they get the ideas - or in the case of the pianist and the one that spoke a foreign language - their ability from.

Jake: I wouldn't say I take all of it with a pinch of salt because I don't know if can occur or not, so I prefer to keep an open mind. I'd say the same for regression, but I do think that under hypnosis some may recount incidents, names and places they've perhaps read in a book or heard about at some time. I've never seen anything that gives positive proof, but some incidences are certainly food for thought. The sub-conscious mind is the real mystery.